Medical Device Investor Forum – Oct. 27-28 in Irvine, CA
OCTANe, an Orange County-based non-profit life sciences and technology accelerator organization, has announced the agenda for its 11th Annual Medical Device & Investor Forum (MDIF), which will be held on October 27-28, 2016, in Irvine, California. The speakers for this year’s MDIF include Mike Mussallem, Chairman and CEO of Edwards Lifesciences; Tom Burns, President and CEO of Glaukos; Jim Mazzo, Global President of Ophthalmology, Carl Zeiss Meditec; Brett Wall, Sr. VP and President of Brain Therapies, Medtronic; and Geoff Martha, EVP and Group President of Restorative Therapies Group, Medtronic. A number of companies will also present new strategies for maximizing funding options. The forum is expected to attract over 600 attendees.
According to its website, OCTANe fosters a successful ecosystem that accelerates the flow of ideas, talent, and capital by creating an infrastructure where entrepreneurs, academia, company executives, and business advisors build and grow sustainable organizations. OCTANe’s members include Orange County technology executive leaders, entrepreneurs, investors, venture capitalists, academicians, and strategic advisors, all working together to fuel innovation in the OC. OCTANe has helped more than 800 companies via the LaunchPad™ Small Business Development Center (SBDC) accelerator. LaunchPad™-certified companies are reported to have received more than $1.7 billion in investment and equity exits.
The agenda for this year’s MDIF includes a keynote address by Dr. Wallace Walrod, Chief Economic Adviser of the Orange County Business Council, and Herm Cukier, Sr. VP of Eye Care, Allergan, on Allergan’s economic impact on Orange County. A panel moderated by Clay Wilemon, CEO and Chief Strategy Officer of DevicePharm, will discuss using big data to improve patient outcomes and reimbursement. Sabing Lee, a Partner at Knobbe Martens, will host a panel discussing medical device security. And, U.S. Congresswoman Mimi Walters will address the importance of innovation in Orange County, and healthcare legislative and policy expert Jeff Kimbell will provide his views on the upcoming elections from a Washington D.C. perspective.
OCTANe annually welcomes more than 7,000 people to its programs and events, and more than 2,000 business leaders throughout the Orange County region are OCTANe members. Bill Carpou, CEO of OCTANe, describes the MDIF as “the most important event of the year when it comes to medical technology and Orange County.”
Allergan Acquires AqueSys for $300 Million
Allergan recently announced that it has completed its acquisition of AqueSys. AqueSys is a privately held company, headquartered in Orange County, California, focusing on “commercializing implantable devices that will significantly improve the treatment of glaucoma, . . . the world’s leading cause of irreversible blindness.”
According to the press release, Allergan’s acquisition of AqueSys is an all-cash transaction that includes a $300 million up front payment with potential milestone payments contingent on the development of XEN45, AqueSys’ leading product. Allergan states that the acquisition of “XEN45 adds to Allergan’s strong late-stage eye care pipeline, with therapies in development to treat glaucoma, dry eye disease, age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and diabetic macular edema (DME).” Allergan reports that final FDA 510(k) clearance of the XEN45 is expected in late 2016 or early 2017.
Regarding the acquisition, Brent Saunders, CEO and President of Allergan, stated
The acquisition of AqueSys and XEN45 is highly complementary to our leadership position in eye care and underscores our commitment to develop and commercialize treatments that advance care and add value for ophthalmologists and their patients. The treatment of glaucoma is increasingly shifting to dropless therapies given the challenges of patient compliance. The XEN45 device provides a minimally invasive approach to lowering IOP [intraocular pressure] for physicians and their patients seeking new ways to treat glaucoma that go beyond conventional eye drop treatments.
According to its website, Allergan is a multi-billion dollar global pharmaceutical company, which focuses on six therapeutic areas: dermatology and aesthetics; CNS; eye care; women’s health and urology; GI and cystic fibrosis; and cardiovascular and infectious disease. Allergan’s global headquarters are in Dublin, Ireland while its U.S. headquarters are in Parsippany, New Jersey.
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